Walking doll



H. M. BLACK Dec. 16, 1952 WALKING DOLL Filed Jan. 9, 1950 Q mm m m m M eaw Patented Dec. 16, 1952 ZhZlA WALKING DOLL Application January 9,195%, Serial No. 137,628

' (oi. iii-ice) Claims. 1

My invention relates generally to toys, and more particularly, to animproved walking doll.

Many prior walking dolls have beenconstructed, some havingself-contained power sources, such as the Well-known windup motor, andothers operated by advancing them across a fiat surface, The former typeare easily broken, and cannot be made realistic without becoming complexand expensive. This invention relates to dolls adapted to be moved bythe child, and may be used in a doll of any desired form. The walkingmechanism in no way interferes with the usual attractive characteristicsof the doll, and is easily operated by a child.

The outstanding characteristic of walking is the oscillating movement ofthe legs which produces a translating movement of the person across aflat surface. There are, of course, many other complex responses such asthe flexing of the knees and ankles, which characterize the walk of anlive animal. To reproduce these complex motions in a simple andeconomical toy is obviously impossible, and need not be attempted tosatisfy a child. If advancing the doll body causes the legs of the dollto move forwardly and backwardly in an alternate sequence, thesimulation of walking is realistic to the vivid imagination of the childand the child is quite pleased. Prior walking toys have partiallyaccomplished this result, but not without sacrificing many of theadvantages of conventional dolls, such as stability, flexibility, anddurability. Furthermore, many of the prior devices have been complex inoperation and their manipulation beyond the comprehension of a smallchild. For these reasons, the prior devices have not been satisfactory,or attractive to children.

The legs or" a walking doll must hecessarily'be pivotally connected tothe body, and consequently the doll has a tendency to become unstablewhen standing erect or sitting. To overcome this instability,'many ofthe prior devices have used complex interconnected leg joints which areeasily broken, and destroy the usual freedom of leg action. For example,the legs will no longer both go forwardly or backwardly at the sametime, and the doll cannot be made to sit with the legs in front thereof.In addition to these disadvantages, many of the prior devices aredifiicult to manipulate and may be easily broken by improper operation.Any doll will receive considerable rough usage, and its durability isone of the most important practical considerations. if the provision ofa walking feature in the doll sacrifices'its general utility, itisundesirable as a plaything for children.

Accordin ly, it is a major object of my invention to provide an improvedwalking doll which does not sacrifice the characteristics of aconventional doll having movable arms and legs.

Another object of my invention is to provide a walking doll which isunusually stable in either the erect or sitting position.

It is also an object of m invention to provide a walking doll thatsimulates walking in a realistic manner and may be manipulated'by asmall child.

A further object of my invention is to provide a doll on which the legsare easily attached, but impossible to detach.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a walking doll thatis ruggedly and economically constructed and cannot be damaged byanything less than intended destruction.

A still further object of my invention is to provide an improved walkingmechanism that can be used without modification in many different sizesand shapes of dolls, that is simple and compact, and has no externalelements to out or otherwise injure a child.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description of a preferred formthereof, and from an inspection of the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view-oi my improved walking doll with the bodyin partial section to show the installation of the legs and armsthereon;

Figure 2 is a vertical cross-section of the doll body and the left leg,showing the connection therebetween;

Figure 3 is a vertical cross-section taken along the line 3-3 of Figure2;

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail of a portion of the leg connection asshown in Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a cross-section taken on the line 55 of Figure l; and

Figure 6 is an exploded view of the leg mechanism.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to Figure 1 thereof, thenumeral it indicates a doll body having m-ovably attached thereon legs Hand i2, arms i3 and it, and a headdt. The body It is hollow, as are theother members, and all of them are preferably made or a hard and durableplastic material, numerous of which are known in the art. The arms itand i4, and the head 55 may be attached to the body it by means of apartial ball and socket connection, as shown in Figure 11, wherein eacharm l3 and I i has a swiveled hook it imbedded therein that is urgedinwardly by a strong resilient band ll passing through the hooks I6 anda similar upper hook (not shown) imbedded in the doll head l5. Theresilience of the band I! allows the arms I3 and i4 and the head |5 tobe rotated and moved angularly, but urges them strongly inwardly so thatthey bear firmly on the body H3 and are held by friction in any selectedposition. The members of the doll may be formed in any desired shape byan economical moulding operation. The preferred form is a female image,having attached hair l8 and movable eyes H! which add to theattractiveness of the doll.

The legs H and I2 are pivotally connected to the body [0 to permit thedoll to walk, stand erect, or sit as will hereinafter be explained. Theconstruction of the leg joints is identical, and reference will be madeonly to the details of the leg I it being understood that leg |2 issimilarly joined. As best seen in Figure 2, the body H), has, at thehips, laterally faced sockets 25, each formed as a circular recess,dished inwardly and having a flat circular inner wall 28 which inclinesoutwardly and upwardly from the vertical axis of the body. The upper endof the leg member H is rounded and carries an inwardly facing circularflange 2T angled upwardly from the longitudinal axis of the leg H, andadapted to extend coaxially within the socket 25 so as to lie parallelto and spaced from the wall 25.

A tubular stud or axle 28 is imbedded within the leg member H to projectinwardly from the center of the flange 2'1, and a sleeve member 29 isimbedded in the wall 28 to extend outwardly within the socket 25 andjournal the axle. The sleeve 29 and axle 28 pivotally connect the leg IIto the body l8, so that when the body is held erect, the leg [I and thesimilarly connected leg l2, can be moved forwardly and backwardly withrespect thereto. As can best be seen in Figure 2, because of the angularposition of the axle 28 as the leg II is moved forward or backward, itis displaced outwardly from the body H).

The parent material of the leg H is thickened rearwardly of the flange2i, and the latter is formed with a counterbore 38, terminated by a flatend wall 3|, from which the axle 28 extends perpendicularly. On theouter end of the axle 28 is a non-circular flanged head 32, beingpolygonal in the preferred form, which is molded into the parentmaterial of the leg to hold the axle rigidly in alignment. Theperipheral edge of the flanged head 32 carries a deep channel groove 33into which the parent material of the leg l is forced to lock the head32 in place. As can best be seen in Figure 6, the flat sides of thepolygonal head 32 positively prevent any rotation of the head or theaxle 28 relative to the leg Similarly, the sleeve 29 carries an innerflanged non-circular or polygonal head 34 which is imbedded within thewall 26 during the molding of the body Hi. The non-circular head 34 anda peripheral groove 35 likewise prevent any rotation or movement of thesleeve 28 relative to the body ID. The use of the locking heads 32 and34 to hold the cooperating axle 28 and sleeve 29 rigidly positionedwithin the plastic members of the doll is very important, as the axleand sleeve are preferably made of metal to provide a good bearingsurface, and they tend to break or wear away within the plastic materialof the leg H and body l0 if even a slight amount of movement ispermitted.

Surrounding the sleeve 29 is a helical coil spring 40 having a rear end4| engaged in the sleeve head 34, and a forward end 42 engaged in theaxle head 32. The relative angular engagem nt of the l 4 spring end 4|with the head 34, and the spring end 42 with the head 32, is such thatwhen the doll leg extends normally downwardly parallel to the body Hi,there is neither tension nor compression on the spring 48. When the legmember II is pivoted forwardly, the spring 40 is placed under tension,and when the leg H is moved rearwardly, the spring is placed undercompression. Either tension or compression, of course, causes the spring40 to urge the leg member back towards its normal position in alignmentwith the longitudinal axis of the body |8 much faster than it would tendto return merely under the influence of gravity.

To prevent unwinding or overwinding of the spring 48, the leg member isfixed to make only a half-turn forwardly or half-turn rearwardly withrespect to the body |0. At the bottom of the flange 2'! is a projectingear 43, and at the top of the wall 25 is a fixed projecting ear or stop44 which the ear 43 meets as the leg H is rotated. As can best be seenin Figure 3, the ear 43 rotates upwardly in either direction until itcomes to bear against the rear or front edge of the stop 44. The'ear 43and stop 44 have a substantial cross-sectional area, and are adapted tosustain a severe shock without breakage if the doll be given roughusage.

The axle 28 and the sleeve member 29 have a large contact area and areclosely fitted to provide a sturdy pivot for the leg member As can beunderstood, it is highly advantageous that the leg members H and I2 belocked on the body It so that they cannot work loose or be intentionallyremoved by the child. I have provided locking means in the form of asplit keeper ring having an upper half 50 and a lower half 5|, toconnect the axle 28 and sleeve 29 and prevent any axial movementtherebetween. Near the inner end of the axle 28 is a deep annular groove52, and in the head 34 of the sleeve 29 is a shallow groove 53 adaptedto register with the former when the axle and sleeve are slidablyengaged.

The keeper elements 50 and 5| are seated within the groove 52 and urgedoutwardly by a leaf spring 54 as is best seen in Figure 6. The combinedradial depth of the spring 54 and keepers 50 and 5| is less than thedepth of the groove 52 so that they may be held inwardly to lie flushwith the surface of the axle 28. After the axle 28 and sleeve 29 havebeen slidably engaged, as is best seen in Figures 4 and 5, the spring 54urges the keepers 58 and 5| outwardly into the groove 53 which is not asdeep as the groove 52 and cannot entirely contain the keeper 58, 5|.Consequently, the keepers 5|! and 5| remain partially within the groove52 and provide an annular key which looks the axle 28 and sleeve 29against axial movement. Once the keepers 5i) and 5| have been urgedoutwardly into the groove 53, there is no way in which the leg member Hcan be removed from the body ||l since the keepers are inaccessible fromthe outside of the doll.

As can be understood, the entire mechanism of the leg joint is compactlypositioned within the socket 25 and there are no external elements tomar the attractiveness of the doll, or in any way injure the child.Moreover, the center of gravity of the doll is very low, because theentire doll body I0 is hollow, and contains no walking mechanism.

To allow simple and rapid assembly of the axle 28 within the sleeve 23,I have provided a floating spacer or ring 55 having the same inner andouter diameter as the sleeve 29 and adapted to ride at the outer endthereof on the axle 28. The-assembly of the device can best beunderstood by following the steps thereof in the exploded -view ofFigure 6. The sleeve 29 is, of course, held rigidlywithin the socket 25and the coilspring 40 is placed around the sleeve with the inner end 4|engaging the head 34. The axle '28 is likewise held rigidly on the legmember H, and the leaf spring 54 is dropped into the groove 52 followedby the keeper members 50 and 5|. In order to slidably engage the axle 28within the sleeve 29, it is necessary to force the keepers 50 and 5Iflush into the groove 52 against the urging of the spring 54, and holdthem in this position until they have passed into the sleeve.

It is relatively easy to push the keepers 59 and5I into flush engagementwith the groove 52, but it'is almost impossible to hold them in thisposition by hand, and at the same time insert the leg member II into thesocket 25. Hence, the spacer 55 is used, being slipped over theaxle 28untilit registers with the groove 52 and holds the keepers 5B and Eltherein. The hands of the operator are free to rotate the leg member IIuntil the free spring end 4.2 is in proper position to engage with theaxle head 32, and

then slidably engage the axle 28 within the sleeve 29. As this is done,the spacer 55 rides to the outer end of the axle abutting the axle head32, asshownin Figure 2.

The length of the axle 28 is longer than the combined length of thesleeve 29 and spacer 55, and the axle extends inwardly into the sleevehead 34 whenthe members are completely engaged. The external groove 52registers with the internal groove 53 of the sleeve head 34 and thekeeper elements 50, 5| are in a position to move into the groove 53. Thekeepers 50 and 5| then move outwardly under the urging of the spring 54,as previously described, to positively lock the sleeve and axletogether. As "can now be fully understood, the use of the floatingspacer v55 greatly facilitates the assembly of the device and makes itsproduction cost much less.

The spacer 55 also has an advantage in .reducing wear on the spring 49which would otherwise-take place. When the leg II is rotated in adirection to tighten-the spring 48, the diameter of the latter isreduced and it approaches the surface of the sleeve 29. Also, the spring45 is cooked in the direction of rotation, and its axis-inclined to theaxis of the sleeve 29, causing the innermost coil to bear firmly on thesleeve and the outermost coil to bear on the spacer 55.

When the leg-I I isbeing rotated, the inner spring end 42 remains fixed,being held by thesleeve head 34, but the outer spring end M, being heldby the'axle head 32, rotates and causes the outermost coil of the spring40 to rotate and turn the spacer 55 because of its frictional engagementtherewith. If the spacer 55 were not free to rotate relative to thesleeve 29, there would berubbing or binding of spring 46 thereon thatwould shorten the life of the spring. By'using the floating spacer 55,the action of the spring All is made much freer, and the walk of thedollis consequently more lifelike. The leg I2 is connected to the bodyII! by the same type of leg joint as is used on the leg I I, and it istherefore deemed unnecessary to describe its construction indetall.

To make a doll of the general class described simulate walking, it isadvanced and rocked slightly from side to side, allowing the rear legsufficient clearance to swing forwardly. The motion-is well-known in theart and isused in operating many prior types of dolls. Utilizing'th'esame motion,I have made the operationof the doll mucheasier tocomprehend, and explain to. a child. The spring!!! will always tendtoreturn the leg I I to its vertical position whether the leg is movedforwardly or backwar'dly. However, the action of the spring-4D is veryfree, and the leg joint 28, '29 is an excellent bearing, causing the legmember II to overtravel under the urging :of thespring, i. e., if theleg is ina forward position, it will travel rearwardly slightly past thevertical, and iftheleg is in a'rearward position it will travelforwardly slightly past'the vertical. When the doll is advanced gently,if the .weightis shifted slightly from side to side, the rear legwill befree to'swing forwardly. Continuing in an alternate sequence, the dollwill appear to be walking. By disposing-the axis of the leg joints 28,2-5! at anangle with the horizontal, the leg 'l I and similarly the legI2, will normally be 'displaced laterally from beneath the doll body IDas it swings forwardly. This may be overcome in operating theidoll bypivoting thedollon the foot of the-supporting-leg, causing the oppositeleg to swing inwardly to a position in front of the doll body instead ofbeing laterally displaced at the side thereof.

As was previously mentioned, the pivotingor rocking'motion is desirablein operating'the doll to give the rear leg sufficient clearance to swingforwardly. This rocking motion, however, must be very'slight, and if theoperator concentrates on rocking the'doll, he will tend to impart toomuch-swaying motion to the legs and they will not'advance properly. Inmy'improved walking doll, the child need only to be told to concentrateonplacing the legs of the doll generally in front of the body. To dothis, he will necessarily pivot the doll on the supporting foot, andwill impart the natural rocking motion from side to side as the doll isadvanced. As can be understood, this advantage is not provided inconventional walking dolls wherein the legs are mounted to swingdirectly in front of the body, and the concentration of the child mustbe on rocking the body from .side to side. This simplified operationcauses the doll to be more desirable to a child, and is a substantialadvantage in a device of this character.

Theangular joints 28, 29 likewise cause the legs I I and I2 to spreadinto an open triangula position when the body It is placed in an erectsitting position with the legs outstretched. In this position, the dollis very stable and will not fall over to either side as is customarywith conventional walking dolls that may be placed in a sittingposition. When the doll body Ill is standing erect with the legs I Iandl2 vertically disposed, there- 'beneath,-the device is againunusually stable and will notnormally rotate at the hips. If the bodyvIii is to rotate forwardly or backwardlyrel-ative to 'the leg membersHand I2, the lattermembers must spread, and as they are in frictional.en-

'gagement with the supporting surface, they tend to resist any suchspreading, and hold the body In in anerectvertical position. Thus, thedoll is stable in either a standing or sitting position,

notwithstandin 'the fact that the legs I I and I2 Many changes in designand, construction will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and I donot wish to be restricted to the details of the preferred form shown anddescribed herein, except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a walking toy of the class described, a joint connecting each ofthe leg members to the body member, which comprises: an axle having aflanged polygonal head with a peripheral groove therein adapted to beimbedded in one of said members to prevent relative axial or rotationalmovement and having an annular groove nea the opposite end thereof; acooperating tubular sleeve journaling said axle and having a flangedpolygonal head with a peripheral groove therein adapted to be imbeddedin the other of said members to prevent relative axial or rotationalmovement and having an internal annular groove near the head end thereofregistering with the groove in said axle when said axle and sleeve areslidably engaged, said axle groove being deeper than said sleeve groove;a leaf spring seated in the bottom of said axle groove; rin segmentsseated within said axle groove and urged outwardly into partialengagement with said internal sleeve groove by said spring to preventrelative axial movement between said sleeve and said axle; a floatingcollar on said axle having the same internal and external diameter assaid sleeve and located between said head of said axle and the free endof said sleeve; and a helical spring surrounding said sleeve andconnected to said sleeve head and said axle head to urge said leg memberto a predetermined position with respect to the longitudinal axis ofsaid body when displaced in either direction therefrom.

2, A walking toy of the class described which includes: a molded bodymember of elongated vertical dimension; a pair of leg members on theopposite sides of said body extending downwardly therefrom forindependent forward and rearward rotation; and a rotatable jointconnecting each of said leg members to said body member and disposedwith its axis directed outwardly and downwardly from the horizontalcausing said leg members to spread apart when rotated in the samedirection with respect to the longitudinal axis of the body, whereby theupper portion of said body will remain erect when said toy is standingor sitting, said rotatable joint comprising an axle having a flangedpolygonal head with a pcripheral groove therein adapted to be imbeddedin one of said members to prevent relative axial or rotational movement,and having an annular groove near the opposite end thereof, acooperating tubular sleeve journaling said axle and having a flangedpolygonal head with a peripheral groove therein adapted to be imbeddedin the other of said members to prevent relative axial or rotationalmovement, and having an internal annular groove near the head endthereof registering with the groove in said axle when said axle andsleeve are slidably engaged, said axle groove being deeper than saidsleeve groove, a leaf spring seated in the bottom of said axle groove,ring segments seated within said axle groove and urged outwardly intopartial engagement with said internal sleeve groove by said spring toprevent relative axial movement between said sleeve and said axle, afloating collar on said axle having the same internal and externaldiameter as said sleeve and located between said head of said axle andthe free end of said sleeve, said collar being rotatable with respect toboth said sleeve and said axle; and a helical spring surrounding saidsleeve and connected to said sleeve head and said axle head to urge saidleg member to a predetermined position with respect to the longitudinalaxis of said body when displaced in either direction therefrom.

3. A walking toy of the class described which includes: a body; a leghaving a normal static position, corresponding to a standing position,said body and said leg forming a pair of relatively pivotal members; asleeve having a head nonrotatably anchored in one of said pivotalmembers and projecting therefrom; an axle having a head nonrotatablyanchored in the other of said pivotal members and projecting therefrom,said axle being journaled in said sleeve for rotation with respectthereto about their common longitudinal axis but held against rotationabout an axis perpendicular thereto, said axle and said sleeve havingaligned annular grooves therein; locking means Within said annulargrooves holding said axle and said sleeve against axial movement withrespect to each other while not restraining rotational movementtherebetween; and a floating collar having the same internal andexternal diameter as said sleeve, mounted on said axle between the headthereof and the projecting end of said sleeve.

4. A walking toy of the class described which includes: a body; a leghaving a normal static position, corresponding to a standing position,said body and said leg forming a pair of relatively pivotal members; asleeve having a head nonrotatably anchored in one of said pivotalmembers and projecting therefrom; an axle having a head nonrotatablyanchored in the other of said pivotal members and projecting therefrom,said axle being journaled in said sleeve for rotation with respectthereto about their common longitudinal axis but held against rotationabout an axis perpendicular thereto, said axle and said sleeve havingaligned annular grooves therein; locking means Within said annulargrooves holdin said axle and said sleeve against axial movement withrespect to each other while not restraining rotational movementtherebetween; spring means connected to said sleeve and said axle andhaving a normal, unstressed position corresponding to said normalposition of said leg, said spring means being stressed by the pivotingof said leg in either direction from said normal position, the strengthof said spring means being such as to pivot said leg when the latter issuddenly released from a displaced position moving said leg to itsnormal position, and then beyond, to stress said spring in the oppositedirection; and a floating collar having the same internal and externaldiameter as said sleeve, mounted on said axle between the head thereofand the projecting end of said sleeve.

5. A walking toy of the class described which includes: a body; a leghaving a normal static position, corresponding to a standing position,said body and said leg forming a pair of relatively pivotal members; asleeve having a head nonrotatably anchored in one of said pivotalmembers and projecting therefrom; an axle having a head nonrotatablyanchored in the other of said pivotal members and projecting therefrom,said axle being journaled in said sleeve for rotation with respectthereto about their common longitudinal axis but held against rotationabout an axis perpendicular thereto, said axle and said sleeve havingaligned annular grooves therein locking means within said annulargrooves holding said axle and said sleeve against axial movement withrespect to each other while not restraining rotational movementtherebetween; helical spring means surrounding said sleeve and connectedto said sleeve and said axle and having a normal, unstressed positioncorresponding to said normal position of said leg, said spring meansbeing stressed by the pivoting of said leg in either direction from saidnormal position, the strength of said spring means being such as topivot said leg when the latter is suddenly released from a displacedposition, moving said leg to its normal position and then beyond, tostress said spring in the opposite direction; and a floating collarhaving the same internal and external diameter as said sleeve, mountedon said axle between the head thereof and the projectin end of saidsleeve.

HOWARD M. BLACK.

10 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the fileof this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

